A viral image shared on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, purports to show a pro-Palestine billboard in Chicago.
🇺🇸🇵🇸 Chicago stands with PALESTINE! pic.twitter.com/6sRBd83XuQ
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) October 30, 2023
Verdict: False
The image shows a billboard in Tunisia, not Chicago. The image was originally posted on X by the Tunisian-based news and media company, the Tunis Tribune in October 2023. A spokesperson for the outlet confirmed the image was taken in Tunisia in an email to Check Your Fact.
Fact Check:
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday amid the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to The Associated Press. During the meeting, Blinken assured Abbas that the Biden administration is making an effort to ease the plight of citizens in Gaza, the outlet reported.
“Chicago stands with PALESTINE!” the X image’s caption reads. Text on the image claims the pro-Palestine billboard just went up in Chicago. “No Halloween this year…The Horror is REAL! #SavePalestine,” the billboard purports. The image has been viewed over 600,000 times as of writing.
The billboard is not located in Chicago but in Tunisia. The same image was originally posted on X by the Tunisian-based news and media company, the Tunis Tribune in October 2023.
“Launch of an urban poster campaign in #Tunisie ‘No Halloween this year,’ ‘Horror IS REAL ‘ to denounce the mass massacres in the gang of #Gaza by the Zionist occupation #GazaGenocide #Gazabombing,” the post’s caption reads.
Lancement d’une campagne d’affichage urbain en #Tunisie 🇹🇳 « Pas d’Halloween cette année,» « L’horreur IS REAL 🇮🇱» pour dénoncer les massacres de masse à la bande de #Gaza par l’occupation sioniste #GazaGenocide #Gazabombing pic.twitter.com/HY0glmbAo8
— Tunis Tribune (@tunistribune) October 25, 2023
Another iteration of the billboard was posted on Instagram on Oct. 25, where it received over 90,000 likes. The Lake of Tunis is geotagged in the post.
Additionally, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports indicating a pro-Palestine billboard had recently gone up in Chicago. Furthermore, neither the city’s Department of Buildings nor Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson have publicly addressed the claim. (RELATED: No, Images Don’t Show U.S. Special Forces In Gaza)
A spokesperson for the Tunis Tribune confirmed the image of the billboard was, in fact, taken in Tunisia in an email to Check Your Fact.
“These images were shared on social networks from October 25, 2023, while specifying that they were indeed taken in Tunisia,” the spokesperson said.
“Then, we were able to identify the locations of their facilities in the capital, Tunis, in several places and here is a small exhaustive list: 1- Boulevard Mohamed Bouazizi, in the direction of Tunis-Carthage International Airport, 2- Route de la Marsa 3- Route X3 and the neighborhoods of Menzah V and VI. There may be other locations throughout the country,” they added.
The spokesperson also provided Check Your Fact four photos of the pro-Palestine billboard that were cited in a recent Reuters article.
Check Your Fact has also contacted the Chicago Department of Buildings Commissioner Matthew Beaudet for comment and will update this post accordingly if one is received.